Gambling Watchdog Bans Use of Credit Cards to Fund Accounts

The UK's Gambling Commission is about to do something it would like us to consider good, as from April 14 gamblers will no longer be able to fund online accounts and place bets offline using credit cards.

This will help stop the most problematic of gamblers running up such huge debts, the GC believes, citing cases where gamblers have been able to build up "tens of thousands of pounds" in debt thanks to ever-increasing credit card limits and financial providers more than happy to lend high-price money to people without checking if they're likely to be able to pay it back before they die.

The Gambling Commission's chief exec Neil McArthur said he's aware there may be some collateral financial inconvenience for sensible people around Grand National time, explaining: "We realise that this change will inconvenience those consumers who use credit cards responsibly, but we are satisfied that reducing the risk of harm to other consumers means that action must be taken." [Gambling Commission via BBC]